This invention relates generally to a manually operated fluid trigger sprayer and more particularly to a trigger sprayer having a locking means slidingly mounted on the trigger lever that automatically resets itself in a position that locks the trigger lever against actuation.
There is a need for manually operated pump sprayers to be rendered child-resistant so as to help prevent unauthorized dispensing of a product from the pump sprayer. A pump can be made child-resistant by including a locking mechanism on the pump that prevents the pumping operation. There is a need for child-resistant pump sprayers in various applications, such as when the pump sprayers contain poisonous insecticides or hazardous materials. Various mechanisms have been developed to lock sprayers and prevent user's from actuating them.
One common solution to making a sprayer child-resistant is to lock the discharge nozzle of the sprayer to prevent discharge of fluids. The locking of the discharge nozzle has been achieved through various means such as those found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,346,821; 4,516,695; 5,050,779; 5,228,600 and 5,482,186. A drawback to the solutions developed in these patents is that once the nozzle has been unlocked, the sprayer may be used and the sprayer is no longer child-resistant. The sprayer is not child-resistant unless the nozzle is placed in the locked position once again.
Another solution developed to make sprayers child-resistant is to lock the trigger lever and thereby prevent it from actuating the pump cylinder in a sprayer. Currently in the art, a number of different mechanisms have been developed that lock the trigger lever, examples of which are illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,927,834; 4,373,644; 4,441,633 and 4,946,074. As with the previous patents, when the sprayers in these patents are in the unlocked position, they are easily accessible regardless whether the user is a child or not. Thus, in the unlocked position, these sprayers in the art are not child-resistant until or unless they are placed in a locked position.
In neither situation previously identified, when the nozzle is locked or when the trigger lever is locked, is the locking mechanism of the sprayer self-resetting. Primarily in the art, manually operated sprayers must deliberately be placed into a locked or unlocked position, and the sprayer will remain in that specific position until it is placed in a different position. The sprayers will not automatically reset themselves into a locked position after every use.
The Knickerbocker patent, U.S. Pat. No. 5,114,049, presents a child-resistant trigger sprayer that is also self-resetting. This particular device has a latch pivotally mounted on the trigger lever for preventing trigger actuation. The latch has an arm projecting forwardly of the trigger lever to facilitate pivotal movement of the latch against the bias of a spring for unlocking the trigger lever and permit pumping. The latch in this invention is automatically returned to its locking position at the end of each pumping operation. However, for this device, a special trigger lever must be manufactured. The locking mechanism cannot be used in conjunction with trigger levers already existing in the art.
There exists a need in the art for an improvement of the existing child-resistant trigger sprayers given the limitations of the existing art.
It is possible to make a sprayer child-resistant by requiring a two-step action be performed in order to operate the sprayer, such as lifting up on a tab while simultaneously pulling the trigger lever, as is shown in the present invention. This renders the sprayer child-resistant because children under a certain age generally cannot perform both functions simultaneously that are necessary to operate the trigger sprayer. The existence of spring-biased arms also allows for the trigger lever to be automatically returned to a locked position after every use. One embodiment of the present invention may also be used with trigger levers currently known in the art, making the locking mechanism economical as well as easy to use.